We’ll know the outcome in Afghanistan by 2020, says top general

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The head of the Armed Forces has warned that it may be another decade before
Britain can judge whether the war in Afghanistan has been a success.

In an interview with The Times, General Sir David Richards, the Chief
of the Defence Staff, denied that the campaign had been doomed from the
start, despite initial tactical errors. But “at the end of the day, we won’t
know (if it has succeeded) until 2018, ’19, ’20”.

He said that he believed British troops would ultimately emerge victorious. “I
have every expectation that we will all agree in ten years’ time that

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2011: a cattle market in the Afghan capital

2011-11-24 00:01:33.236 Times photographer, Jack Hill

2011: a cattle market in the Afghan capital

2011-11-24 00:01:33.236 Times photographer, Jack Hill

A vendor sells balloons to children in the centre of the city

2011-11-24 00:01:33.236 Times photographer, Jack Hill

2011: boys sit on a hill overlooking the central area of Kabul

2011-11-24 00:01:33.236 Times photographer, Jack Hill

2001: a downtown bazaar in Kabul

2011-11-24 00:01:33.236 Alexander Nemenov/EPA

2001: ruins in the Hazara area of the city

2011-11-24 00:01:33.236 Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

2001: the Northern Alliance drive into the centre of Kabul, formerly run by the Taleban